John Cornyn keeps the Limbaugh story alive.
Number of times that the administration has brought up Limbaugh lately: zero.
Prominent Republicans who have crossed Limbaugh without crawling back for an apology: still zero.
Meanwhile, the fun at RNC headquarters never stops since Democrats forced RNC chair Michael Steele to humiliate himself at Rush’s feet.
Joshua Norton
Steele’s more than likely on his way out the door. But then again, they have nobody to take his place so they just might hire an Executive Director and make him more of a carefully stage managed figurehead.
MattF
John Cornyn, fucking stupid.
srv
Dems need to find a way for them to keep kicking themselves when they’re down. Someone on the left should do a Michael Steele song along the lines of Rush’s "Barack the magic negro".
Wingnuts will go completely ape and call it racism.
Max
It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Brick Oven Bill
I have my issues with Rush Limbaugh, namely his funding and how it affects his message, but he has been masterful in this exchange with the President.
I like predictions, because they keep us honest. Rush has challenged the President to go one-on-one in Rush’s medium, the radio. This is a fair challenge as the President had called Rush out by name and his Administration has made Rush a focal point.
The President would get creamed without a teleprompter on a radio show, and he knows it, in my opinion. Thus Tim F’s observation that they have been quiet on the subject of Rush.
So I predict that Rush will not let this challenge go, and will bring the exchange to climax by calling the President a coward.
Dennis-SGMM
The most vocal supporters of Limbaugh Republicanism are all elected from districts that lean far more to the right than the rest of the country. These guys’ only worry is being unseated by someone even more right-wing than they are so it’s natural that they’re very publicly doing and saying things that appear batshit insane to the rest of the country. It’s a sign of Republican disarray that the rest of the party is allowing this small segment to be the public face and the public voice of the GOP when doing so will cost them dearly in future elections.
John S.
I challenged the President to go one-on-one in MY medium – my living room. The topic will be price indexing by cheese pizza.
I think it’s a fair challenge since he keeps talking about Americans and taxpayers – and I’m both!
We all know the President would get creamed without a teleprompter in my living room, and he knows it, in my opinion.
So I will call him a coward and shout it to the heavens!
Also, I will expect to see a printed copy of his original birth certificate, or I will also call him a foreign agent.
/BOB
Funkhauser
"Big John… (dum dum dum)…. whiny little man…. (dum dum dum)…."
Cf.
Joshua Norton
Of course the ditto heads are not taking this lying down – much like they prefer their sex. In a new spate of redirecting the outrage, they’re going all "nucular" because a homeless person has a cell phone.
More tax cuts for the rich! More tax cuts for the rich! The poors can buy cell phones!
Jennifer
In other words, Rush will do what he always does: bloviate, then claim victory when he either does or doesn’t get his way or what he said did or didn’t come to pass. Truly, there’s no downside for being a fat self-stroking fuck with zero intellectual honesty or integrity.
Rush is so adept at having true debate-style conversations that they’re a regular part of his show’s format.
No, wait, they aren’t.
And he doesn’t really allow it from callers, either. Maybe he’s not all that when it comes to winning the argument against people who have like, real facts and who tell the truth. Then there was that time back in the day before the media companies realized how much more offensive it was to watch the guy as he spouted his nonsense, when they had to clear the entire audience from a show he was taping, apparently because Rush couldn’t deal with the dissent.
I’ve got just as much standing to demand that Rush debate the band of poop-throwing howler monkeys down at the zoo as he does to challenge a president to debate. And were I to do so, it would be a far more interesting debate, because the two sides would be so much more evenly matched.
Dennis-SGMM
Obama should follow the example set by Bush, whose many appearances on Bill Maher’s show and on Countdown, as well as his habit of popping in on the Sunday morning talk shows to take questions so inspired us all.
Joshua Norton
All Obama has to do is agree to debate Limpballs – once he becomes the repug nominee for president.
RandyH
Check out this video compilation of Limbaugh’s various tics, facial expressions and gyrations from his CPAC speech, set to music…
Worse than being Rick-rolled. But worth a watch.
Gym Rat
I read an article a while back where the Chicago Bears didn’t call William "The Refrigerator" Perry "Fridge" but rather "Biscuit" as in one more biscuit and he will weigh 400 pounds. I think we should do the same and just call this limp dick fat slop "Biscuit".
gnomedad
@RandyH:
Dammit, now YouTube is "sorry". When will it end?
[delurk]...[/delurk]
Where does this "Obama is helpless without his Teleprompter" bullshit the wingnuts are tossing around lately come from? I can’t think of any political figure as articulate and able to deal with unscripted conversations since…FDR, anyway; maybe Lincoln, though of course we don’t have film of Lincoln. Can anybody help me out here?
Bvac
@Brick Oven Bill: why doesn’t Rush challenge Obama one-on-one in Obama’s medium: governing a fucking country?
Joshua Norton
They’re just trying to recycle the Dem’s snarks about Chimpy. Much like they tried to hang all Dan Quayle’s idiocy around Al Gore’s neck.
zoe kentucky
The Obama Administration doesn’t need to do or say anything else about Rush, the trap has been set– and they barely had to do anything to set it into motion. The GOP did most of the work. I LOVE how the GOP is claiming this is some kind of grand conspiracy. Project much? It really is the theatre of the absurd.
It’s only a matter of time before Rush says something completely indefensible.I don’t understand why they don’t recognize the risk of claiming such an unhinged, unpredictable hate-filled shockjock as one of their own.
The GOP has been set up, it could happen next week, it could happen 6 months from now. They will then either have to admonish or defend him, neither will be an appealing option.
demkat620
@Bvac: Or his other medium; Basketball. How long would the drug adled gas bag last? 15, 30 seconds?
MikeJ
People often say Reagan was a political genius because of his "eleventh commandment". "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."
It’s a pity the Democratic party has been so fucking useless since 1980. Obama has shown them just how easy it is to get Republicans to shit themselves because they can’t stop taking orders from an Alzheimer’s riddled dead man.
smiley
@[delurk]…[/delurk]:
That’s not new. It’s been around since the primary campaign. I believe it was a PUMA favorite.
Martin
@demkat620:
And people think Obama is helpless without a teleprompter because he tends to stammer, which is quite common (in one form or another) with people that think before they speak. These people aren’t listening to Obama’s content (I don’t think they listen to anyone’s content, honestly, they just seek out keywords) so his polish goes off when he goes off the teleprompter and they assume the change in style reflects a change in substance – again, because they don’t care about substance.
David
Forget Limbaugh, I think Ashley Todd is secretly running the RNC. She’s the woman who just before the election claimed:
‘A Black man attacked me and carved a backwards"B" into my face!’
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@RandyH: Oh my God, Rush does a terrorist fist jab at the end of that video!
Josh Hueco
@demkat620:
Or they could both just whip ’em out and measure, one with a yardstick, the other with a caliper.
JL
I’m concerned about Rush’s health. He’s sweating, rubbing his nose alot and is obviously hyper. It might be time for him to spend 30 days in a rehab.
Mnemosyne
So is Limbaugh still deaf due to his abuse of Oxycontin, or did he get cochlear implants so he can keep using?
Inquiring minds want to know.
gwangung
Waddya mean? Do people forget what he’s said about Michael Fox?
Frankly, Republicans are rallying around a person who picks on sick people and cripples. REPUBLICANS are indefensible.
smiley
@Mnemosyne:
Yes.
Keith
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but the current zigging and zagging the GOP is doing right now is *really* reminiscent of WCW’s last days vs. WWF/WWE. Anyone know was a fan of wrestling during the early decade know what I’m talking about (monthly storyline "reboots", new leadership coming in and then rumors of early exits, random swerves that make little sense other than the shock value of it).
Brick Oven Bill
The reason objective people are beginning to notice the teleprompter, is because the President rarely speaks without it. This is unprecedented, to my knowledge. In contrast, note this unbiased article in the New York Times, where they mock McCain about struggling with a teleprompter, stating that he is used to communicating directly with people:
McCain Battles a Nemesis, The Teleprompter
This may have, in small part have been legitimate criticism on the part of the New York Times. But it begs the question, if the teleprompter is McCain’s nemesis, because he cannot speak with it, what is Obama’s nemesis, if he cannot speak without it?
FDR? Please.
I notice that his eyes dart back and forth at 45 degree angles as he speaks, alternating between his two speaking aids. My next project will be to determine the frequency of the alternating gazes, and determine if the frequency changes during a speech, or between speeches. I suspect that I will find that the frequency increases when he gets angry.
jcricket
Apparently Rush Limbaugh and Republicans are capable of continuously spewing out nonsense with no external input. It’s like perpetual motion and renewable energy all rolled into one.
If only we can sequester that BS and upgrade our power grid to feed it to the areas that don’t "get" Limbaugh, all our energy problems will be solved.
dmsilev
So, if we are to believe BOB, Obama can barely croak a single word without a teleprompter. Makes you wonder how he handed McCain his ass in three straight debates. Maybe Obama was reading off a teleprompter in the debates, and McCain was just too stupid to notice and point it out.
-dms
jcricket
Michael J. Fox, Barack the Magic Negro, his comments about Ted Kennedy – and that’s in recent memory.
Prior to these last two years I bet there are hundreds of examples. He’s not quite as bad as Savage or Coulter, but there’s no real daylight between them.
If the press ever starts honestly reporting about the extremism on the right, the ridiculousness of their economic, healthcare and environmental ideas, etc. – first I will faint, then I will OD on popcorn as 90% of Republicans get tossed out of office.
Ash Can
Except that there’s been no, um, exchange.
smiley
@Brick Oven Bill:
I’ve seen him speak without it numerous times. BTW, you don’t need a comma in that sentence.
jenniebee
So is Cornyn saying that hanging Rush around the neck of the Republican party is a smear? Is he not proud to represent the Party of Rush?
Mischievous minds want to know.
Beauzeaux
Your knowledge appears to be rather shallow in this regard.
I was at one of Obama’s early campaign events. I saw him take questions from the crowd for about two hours, far beyond the time he was scheduled to speak. He gave thoughtful and detailed answers to every single question. There was no teleprompter present.
Brick Oven Bill
Smiley, here is an article stating that they are keeping him on the teleprompter at most all events, large and small, these days. My guess is that this is in response to the economic advice he recently gave us about profits and earnings ratios, when he was exposed to reporters with out his speaking aids.
If you look at the video posted above, you will see the panic set in when both teleprompters lose power. He looks 45 degrees one direction, and then 45 degrees the other direction, and then collapses.
This is the opposite of Sully Sullenberger. Sully trains to lose power to both of his engines, on a routine basis. When Sully zooms down the runway, he is ready. This is called contingency planning in some organizations.
Cat Lady
Rush has already been called out by both Contessa Brewer and Campbell Brown as not responding to requests to come to their place of business to debate. And they’re GIRLS. He’s a bully, and a coward. And fat. Also.
Dennis-SGMM
Is that the type of plan Bush had for when the Iraqis didn’t throw candy and flowers?
Brick Oven Bill
Humor.
smiley
@Brick Oven Bill:
So, I can believe an article in the Politico or I can believe my lying eyes? And see #39.
Wile E. Quixote
Brick Oven Bill
Dude, your whole "I’m totally teh gay for Sully Sullenberger" routine is getting old. I’m sure that if he knew about it Captain Sullenberger would be totally disturbed and repulsed and might just ask himself why he didn’t just nose the plane into the chilly waters of the Hudson and be done with it.
kommrade reproductive vigor
"We don’t worship Limbaugh!" is the GOP translation of "I did NOT have sex with that woman!"
BC
Yeah, me, too, in Great Falls, Montana. But you tell anyone that and they come back with, "well, those teleprompters are very difficult to see so you just missed it" – so Obama is so powerful he carries an invisible teleprompter around to all his appearances. Fact is, the dude can think on his feet and be articulate on any number of issues. He won’t debate Rush because he told the Republicans their problem was that they listen too much to Rush, so won’t want to dignify the asshole – but, if he did, he would leave Rush burbling and lashing out a straw men. Actually, straw men are the only opponents any of the GOP can take down now – which is why instead of addressing honestly an issue like, say, health care, they instead address the scary health care issue that is in their heads.
JWW
Is there something that really worries you about Rush or is it you have no confidence in President Obama. I think it’s the latter.
I didn’t see any of you worried about the truthful things said about President Bush, by Rush or any other host. You all jumped on board. So why is it they all of a sudden they have everything wrong.
They have everything wrong because you refuse to listen. President Obama is a total rookie, he hired some experienced personnel that are using him like a yo yo. If and when he gets screwed enough, he may become what you all are looking for. As of today, he is still a rookie.
As for Rush himself, I see no need for President Obama to even take notice of him. The more attention he gets outside of his radio show, the more significant the role he can play. Besides, and I have said this before on this site I find it that the President of the United States has better things to do.
Jrod
Are these the same objective people who think Obama is actually a Kenyan terrorist sleeper agent? Or are they the same objective people who think his tax policy is undiluted Leninist communism?
In either case, Obama talks without a teleprompter all the time. However, when he’s giving a speech or address, why not use them? Maybe cleaning up the mess Republicans made of our country doesn’t leave him much time for memorizing speeches.
Since you’re so worried about Obama’s teleprompter, undoubtedly you can link to your complaints from five years ago about Bush relentlessly staging and micro-managing every single appearance, speech, and bowel movement he made. Right? I mean if using a teleprompter is such a big deal, that Mission Accomplished banner must have made your blood boil. Right BoB?
JWW
If and only President Obama held a current position on a chess board it would be that of a well placed pawn. He currently wields no power other than the position he was placed in.
Nancy Pelosi is the King, Harry is the Queen, Rahm holds both Rook positons.
President Obama has put himself in a very dangerous position with Rahm. Rahm Emanuel is feeding and growing fat. He is dangerous, deceiving, has no loyalty without payment.
Brick Oven Bill
I don’t know if I have mentioned this here or not. But one time a friend had a couple of extra tickets to a Fleetwood Mac concert, and offered them to us. I really enjoyed the show. Nick Fleetwood is just a cool guy, comfortable in his own skin. And the guitar player, whose name I cannot remember, was excellent.
I looked at the tickets my friend had given us, and they were really expensive, so I bought the beer. South Park has an episode were Stevie Nicks is compared to a goat. And I thought of this during the show. I think that South Park was pretty accurate.
Anyway, at the end of the show we maneuvered to the rear of the stage to check out what equipment the band was using. The equipment was road-worn, making me feel like this was a real authentic show. Then I noticed that Stevie Nicks was singing off of a teleprompter. She was the only member of Fleetwood Mac, as far as I can tell, using a teleprompter.
I thought to myself, if she is going to collect all this money from the audience, she should at least learn the words. She sings those same 3 or 4 songs every night. I was not impressed with Stevie Nicks.
Please do not label me as a Bush supporter.
dslak
At least not since November 2006.
RandyH
Re: Obama and the Teleprompter
I’ve noticed that he uses a teleprompter when he has "prepared remarks" (a new speech) that are released in advance to the press and embargoed by them until delivery. This allows the press to write their story or on-air script ahead of time to some degree. When he does this, he needs to stick to the script almost word-for-word though. If he didn’t, and forgot a sentence, everyone would wonder why he dropped a sentence from the prepared remarks and over-analyze that, potentially becoming the new conspiracy story of the day. Kinda like when a blogger deletes a sentence from a previously posted blog post without mentioning it as an update.
Obama does great delivering a stump speech or answering questions without a teleprompter though. And he could do it from notecards I am sure, but then he would have to look down all of the time.
But recall from the campaign… it was Sarah Palin who was revealed to be an idiot without a Teleprompter. She could deliver a prepared speech like a pro from the teleprompter but she couldn’t do an interview to save her life.
Josh Hueco
@Brick Oven Bill:
Bush sucked. So did Silverchair.
John S.
BOB, I just looked up the phrase ‘apropos of nothing’ and you were the definition.
Matthew Hooper
BoB, there’s a very simple reason that Obama neither needs or wants to debate Rush – because he really doesn’t care about him. Obama’s objective is to peel off moderate Republicans from the voting bloc and set up the Democratic party for victory in 2010 by marginalizing the Republicans in office.
His best tool for doing that is by branding the Republicans as the party of Rush Limbaugh – a man who, according to Democratic polling, is less popular than Rev. Wright. Ignoring Rush is the perfect strategy in this regard; Rush will just get louder and shriller, which is exactly what Obama wants.
Debating Rush serves no point. It’s not about Rush’s ideas. We already had a forum about those; it was called the 2008 election. No, at this point it’s all about Limbaugh the man – and as the talking head and embodiment of the Republican party, he’s a terrible choice. The Republicans have to win over moderates if they have any hope of winning elections in the future. Limbaugh is utterly incapable of doing that, and has a strong chance of driving moderates away.
Delia
Ow, Ow, Ow. I just picked up this bit from the Crooks and Liars story."
Now this image is seared into my mind forever and my brain hurts. Cornyn giving fat rubbery Rush a sponge bath. The ninth circle of hell.
Chuck Butcher
Just so BOB feels engaged, let’s do bit of political calculation here. I won’t mess with the Senate, 6yr terms bring in too much stuff, but the House is pretty straight forward, the Rs are the survivors of 06 & 08 and their political dynamics are pretty well set, minus one thing, a collapsing economy. Obama has two pieces in play by letting Rush be labeled "leader." The people, right now, are the political pressure on the Rs, not Obama, not good government, just the folks and what Rs perceive them as thinking. Even giving the fatboy his numbers (which I doubt) this leaves a shit load of Rs that don’t like him and don’t want to be known as him. Then you have that the national/media impression oF Rs counts with them long term. They want Senators and the Presidency once again.
Letting them cat fight over this may raise RL’s numbers short term but those people didn’t listen to him previously for a reason. The Republicans are beginning to look like his puppets which discredits their arguments and bullshit with the public at large and that is important because this crapped out economy is going to be awhile. The public is generally being pretty patient, but that’s going to start wearing and the carpers will gain ground. If you’re on the real losing end of this you’re fucked for awhile and pretty fucked for quite awhile.
If their ideology looks stupid that’s ok with me, but what is essential is that their lies about specifics are discredited very early on. Hanging the "respectable" Rs with the disrespected radio host helps cut the ground out from under their lies and has the congruent effect of making a compliant media try to avoid getting hung with him.
anonevent
@JWW: Actually, Obama is doing fine, though I do hope he gets more aggressive on the economy. How he handles dicks like Martinez and Nelson will probably end up defining him.
Once again, the Obama administration made one statement about Rush. It’s everyone else that keeps bring him up.
Chuck Butcher
I watched Obama in Pendleton, OR in front of an E OR audience. No teleprompter, speech very close to the one a earlier in the day in Portland, OR. Following was 2 hrs of Q&A with an unfamiliar audience, a few "ums and uhs" not much, but the abilities on display make me very sure that if you are not a world class debater you want nothing to do with trying him on.
(I was 15 feet from Obama as a VIP)
robertdsc
Beautiful.
Nancy Irving
From Cornyn’s petition:
"…diverting attention *to* the hard work that needs to be done to get America’s economy back on track." (my italics)
Freudian slip, anyone?
Ed Drone
I love how even Rush and his followers have missed the point.
Obama has hung the Rush Limbaugh albatross around the neck of the GOP. It matters not whether Obama "debates" Limbaugh, as long as the public thinks "Republican = Ditto-head."
It’s a big "Kick me, I’m Rush’s butt-boy" sign (to use Rush’s favorite phrase) on every Republican’s ass. Not that it wasn’t obvious to thinking people before Obama made it the point, but now it’s in the public’s mental picture of the obstructionist Republicans.
And the more time they take talking about how Obama’s being mean, the more the people will notice that the Republicans are not only doing nothing about our problems, but actively resisting efforts that can make a difference. Then again, maybe the more the GOP gets upset about their guru, the less damage they can do to the country.
Ed
joe from Lowell
The first time I saw Republicans try out the teleprompter shtick was before the debates. McCain was really going to kick his ass, doncha know, because Barack Obama doesn’t speak very well without a teleprompter!
Then Obama won all three debates by wide margins.
I don’t who these people are trying to fool with this. Oh, wait, yes I do: themselves.
JWW
anonevent,
Back to you, your statement is an absolute lie. President Obama has himself has called upon radio hosts in person as a minimum of ten times. His peons who he hired have gone to the table thrice as many.
clay
1) It’s Mick Fleetwood.
2) The guitar player is Lindsey Buckingham, who is indeed, excellent.
3) What the frak does this have to do with anything?